Danny Brière was the very last to speak at the Flyers' cleanout over the weekend.
He sat down at the media room table in Voorhees on Saturday with a folder full of notes and a whole lot to say, though granted, largely just by the nature of his position as the general manager.
He talked about the immediate priority of the coaching search and what the team will be looking for; he talked about the ups and downs of what, for long stretches, became another rough season, and the aftermath from firing John Tortorella; he talked about the positive developments he saw out of key young players, the ones still on the way, and Matvei Michkov's rapidly rising stardom; and in turn of that, he talked about this summer, about having a bit of wiggle room under the salary cap to make some potential moves, and how after a couple of years of evaluating and subtracting from the team, this is going to be the turning point to start adding.
"I've always said the players would kind of dictate that," Brière said. "There's guys that really took a big step forward, there's a few guys that regressed, but I don't think we're that far off. I think we're at a stage now where we're gonna shift a little bit from subtracting from the roster into trying to start to add and help the team."
The idea that the Flyers "aren't far off" was a commonly shared sentiment among players throughout the two days' worth of media availabilities also, but with a key distinction of pushing for the playoffs, not competing for the Stanley Cup. That part is still a ways off.
Brière said he sees the signs, though, especially in the youth.
Obviously, there's Michkov, who finished his rookie season as the Flyers' leading goal-scorer, and then the strides taken by what became the team's shutdown line between Bobby Brink, Noah Cates, and Tyson Foerster, which was all huge for the team to start getting at the NHL level.
But it's only a start.
"The exciting part for me is all the young guys that have taken a step in the last couple of years, and then all of a sudden, the guys that we started drafting a couple of years ago are starting to turn pro," Brière said. "You want that internal competitiveness."
And Brière had the list of names who are expected to be knocking on the door in hand.
Prospects Jett Luchanko and Alex Bump are with the Phantoms right now, along with trade acquisition Nikita Grebenkin, Karsen Dorwart and Devin Kaplan signed out of college before the year was up, Brière mentioned that Denver Barkey and Oliver Bonk are going to be turning pro out of London in the OHL, and that defensemen like Emil Andrae, Helge Grans, and Hunter McDonald are on the cusp of taking on more.
And that's before even getting to what might happen in the draft in a couple of months, where the Flyers, before the lottery, currently hold the No. 4 overall pick in the order.
"To me, that's the exciting part," Brière said after running through all the names. "Three, four years ago, we didn't have a lot of prospects. We had one prospect that was pushing to make the team here and there, and now we are starting to see guys starting to come in. The following year is going to be even more."
"All that combining, the guys cannot be satisfied with where they are, and I think when you start creating that internal competition, it forces them to take a next step."
And on the front office's end, to start investing around them.
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The Flyers have been setting up for that for a while now, but might have gotten a bit more leeway to do so sooner than initially expected, thanks in large part to the cap increasing over the next few years along with being able to get former winger Joel Farabee's $5 million cap hit off the books entirely with his and Morgan Frost's January trade to Calgary.
The Flyers will have four restricted free agents to negotiate with this summer between Cates, Foerster, Jakob Pelletier, and Cam York – the latter of whom is expected to command the heaviest pay increase – but with the cap going up to $95.5 million for next season, the team is projecting to have a touch above $24.7 million in space, per PuckPedia.
That helps.
"There's a little bit of a window to add from the outside," Brière said. "We're not going to be able to fix every problem, but it would be nice to be able to, if the situation is right, to add a player or two to come in and help on that front. That, also, should help in taking a step."
And so will all that stocked-up draft capital the Flyers have for this June, with 11 picks in total and seven in just the first two rounds alone.
They might end up making all the picks, Brière said, but he acknowledged that they do generate a lot of value to get creative with, and will almost certainly have teams wanting to talk, either offering a player or the Flyers a chance to move up the board.
But it's all going toward what is now quickly shaping up to be a busy summer for the Flyers, and at this point in their rebuild, a pivotal one.
Because the subtracting, or at least most of it, is done.
Time to start adding.
MORE: Tyson Foerster cements his place in Flyers' rebuild
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